Ultraman Leo
is the seventh entry of the Ultra Series. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions, Ultraman Leo was aired between April 12, 1974, and March 28, 1975, with a total of 51 episodes. It had a much darker theme than the preceding Ultraman Taro, in order to bring back the older fans who had disliked the previous series' childish nature. Unfortunately, this move lost many of the younger fans, leading to the lowest ratings the franchise had yet seen. Tatsumi Nikamoto was the in-suit actor of Ultraman Leo. On November 13, 2014 Crunchyroll announced that the entire series would be available that day on their streaming service for the US, Canada, Latin America, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Plot Ultraman Leo comes from Nebula L77 (Leo constellation), and takes the human form of Gen Ohtori. Ultraseven appears to fight a new foe, Alien Magma and his two "pets", the Red and Black Gillas. Ultimately, Ultraseven is greatly overpowered and his leg is graphically broken by Black Gillas. Ultraman Leo drives off the foes, but Ultraseven is confined to his human form because of his injuries and due to the Ultra Eye being damaged when he attempted to transform. Dan then maintains his role as Captain of MAC (Monster Attacking Crew). Gen is a gymnastics teacher on the side and joins MAC to defend the Earth. Gen and Dan regularly train together, allowing Ultraman Leo to learn many moves in human form. In episode 34, Dan asks Ultraman Jack to take the Ultra Eye back to M78 to be restored while he heals on Earth. However, in Episode 40 MAC is destroyed by Silver Bloom, a saucer monster that belongs to Black Directive. During the attack Dan asks Leo to keep defending the Earth and disappears in the conflagration. It is later shown that he was taken back to M78 to be fully healed and restored as Ultraseven. Gen is now unemployed and spends most of his time training the kids to defend themselves as well as defending the Earth as Ultraman Leo. Black Directive and Alien Bunyo captures Gen when he cannot transform completely. Gen as Leo is then dismembered, only to be brought back to life by Ultraman King. Leo would face Black's final monster, Black End, with the kids he trained, the latter of whom kill Black, and hand the sphere used to control Black End to Leo. Finishing his mission, Gen removes his Leo Ring and sets off to tour Earth, his "second home". Characters Ultras Allies MAC *Ichiro Aoshima *Akio Kuroda *Atsushi Hirayama *Kiyohiko Akaishi *Junko Shirakawa *Haruko Momoi *Daisuke Sato *Jun Shirado *Ippei Kajita *Haruko Matsuki *Suzuki *Saburo Sato Other Allies *Kaoru Umeda *Toru Umeda *Takeshi Nomura *Seiji Omura *Momoko Yamaguchi *Sakiko Miyama *Izumi Miyama *Ayumi Miyama *Sevengar Other Ultras Monsters & Aliens * Red Gillas * Black Gillas * Alien Magma * Alien Tsuruk * Kanedoras * Alien Karly * Kendoros * Vekira * Guiro * Ron * Alien Kettle * Bango * Alien Vibe * Antales * Alien Flip * Alien Atler * Alien Wolf * Bat Girl * Batton * Alien Boze * Bock * Dogyuh * Alien Alpha * Alien Northsatan * Liter * Gallon * Alien Coro * Renbolar * Carolyn * Professor Dodole * Gamelot * Alien Clean * Satan Beetle * Pressure * Oni-on * Archer Boy * Alien Paradai * King Paradai * Uriy * Uringa * Rolan * Alien Virmin * White Flowers Fairy * Princess Kaguya * Kiraa * Alien Akumania * Ashuran * Taishoh * Alien Atlanta * Alien Mazaras * Specter * Alien Babalou * Commander Black * Silver Blume * Black Dome * Absorber * Demos * Black Garon * Blizzard * Hangler * Black Terrina * Satan Mora * Nova * Alien Bunyo * Black End Arsenal *Leo Ring Episodes # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Cast * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : (39), (50) * : Guest cast * : * : * : Suit actors * : , * : * : * : Theme songs * **Lyrics: Yu Aku **Composition & Arrangement: Makoto Kawaguchi **Artist(s): Ryu Manatsu, Lake Boys and Girls Choir (Tokyo records) **Episodes: 1-13 * **Lyrics: Yu Aku **Composition & Arrangement: Makoto Kawaguchi **Artist(s): Yuki Hide (credited as Hideyuki), Lake Boys and Girls Choir (Tokyo records) **Episodes: 14-51 US Television Premiere and Streaming release Honolulu, Hawaii-based on-air broadcaster of Japanese programming, KIKU-TV, the home of the tokusatsu or Kikaida craze of the 1970s, began airing all 51 episodes of the series on Friday, January 3, 2014, at 6:30 PM (Hawaiian Standard Time) in Japanese with English Subtitles.http://kikutv.com/ In 1975, an English-dubbed version of Ultraseven was broadcast on Honolulu's NBC affiliate KHON-TV. On November 12, 2014, Crunchyroll obtained the streaming rights to the series from Tsuburaya Productions and began posting the Hawaiian subtitled episodes on their website for viewers. Notes *''Ultraman Leo'' series was noted as the last of the golden age of the Ultra Series. During the 'Oil Shock' which hit world economy in the 1970s, the production of monster-based series became less popular, in addition to more animated series being produced. *''Ultraman Leo'' got off on a bad start. The previous series, (Ultraman Taro), was extended from 49 to 53 episodes because pre-production of Ultraman Leo was running behind schedule. *The series was written for more of an adult audience than Ultraman Taro, because Tsuburaya was losing positive ratings from adults due to the child oriented nature of Ultraman Taro. *The MAC song sings about the MAC Mole and the MAC Shark, but these machines were never used in battle on the series. However the MAC Shark makes an appearance in the opening credits after episode 28. *''Ultraman Leo's'' 1st theme was chosen as "Tatakae! Ultraman Leo" but wasn't ready at the time. *The first singer of "Tatakae! Ultraman Leo" was actually Masato Shimon as a note to Yuki Hide on how to sing it. References External links *'' '' at Wikipedia